The Alrights - Live from Pittsburgh

Andrew Olson

Reader Weekly

The Alrights kicked off a mini-tour on September 14^th at Pizza Luce to an enthusiastic local crowd.  With their hit album High School newly re-mastered by the world renowned studio, The Lodge in New York, they are ready for college radio.  I spoke to Chad “Chavo” Amborn while in Pittsburgh about what is up with the band and what it’s like to be on tour.    

Andrew: So what has changed about the album from the previous version?

Chavo: We are re-releasing the CD under City Canyon records with brand new artwork and a re-mastered sound from The Lodge in New York.  They made the album more radio ready for a national audience by beefing up the volume.  They also did some small tweaks, like taking out the buzzes and hums.

Andrew:  What is Pittsburgh like?

Chavo:  Because we are in Pittsburgh, even the punk rockers have Steelers shirts on..  We are waiting to begin playing until the Monday Night Football game is over (Steelers vs. Jaguars).  They really love their football team here and have pretty amazing spirit.  I would say about 80% of everyone I see on the street is wearing some sort of Steelers’ apparel.

Andrew: Where is the show tonight?

Chavo:  It’s at The Smiling Moose in downtown Pittsburgh on

Andrew:  Where do you go next?

Chavo:  We play New York tomorrow at a bar named The Red Lion.  We also will be meeting and talking to the label and their representative Trevor Lloyd. But check this out, this is really cool, last week we got the radio stats, because they are playing us on the radio now..  We were 10^th in Utah on the radio and #6 in North Carolina. The record label submitted High School to 325 stations across the country with the majority being college radio channels. Even in Rhode Island the album was # 27^th.

Andrew: So how was this tour set up for you guys? 

Chavo: We set up the tour going by back to the same places as the last one and adding a few shows along the way.  We go to Vermont, Rochester, Minneapolis, Detroit and have a big Duluth show at the Reef Bar on September 29^th and 30th.  Toby booked like mad on Myspace.com, which helped add several dates. We love being on the road though and trying to make a name for ourselves in someplace new.  Then it is great when we return to places where we have been before and see what the buzz is like now about us.  It is always great to get out of Duluth and see what else is out there.  Pizza Luce’ was the kickoff, then Rochester, and then St. Cloud.  The first three shows went off very well and we sold over $300 in merchandise.  With new shirts, and the new re-mastered CD people were re-buying.. People bought like 2, 3, 4 shirts at a time. 

Andrew:  So on the tour are you playing the High School songs or something new?

Chavo:  We are playing 3 or 4 songs off of High School and the rest is new material.  With all the new songs Toby has written we are going to tour to support High School.  Then pending how well this goes hopefully this winter we will make a new CD. 

Andrew:  What is the craziest thing that has happened on tour so far?

Chavo:  We love to make fans along the way, but the craziest thing so far?  We are a pretty boring band, no after parties on a Monday night.  We are beating up the crowd with music then we get off stage and watch TV. What can I say, we’re boring.. Or we might get in the van and take off for a show the next day.  On our last tour someone threw me into a wall.  A friend who comes with got me in headlock, flipped me, and left a body-print in the drywall.  Nothing noteworthy has happened yet, but we did pick up a stranded puppy and named it Guy.  Some of the people in Rochester were a bit weird, this dude grabbed my sticks while I was playing. He was yelling, “gimme some sticks.”  So I gave him an extra pair and then he proceeded to play the drums on a pole next to me.  I was getting pissed off though as he had no timing at all.  He barked at me saying, “I’m a drummer..” Well you’re not a very good one then.

Andrew: What are the new songs that you are playing?

Chavo:  For this tour we introduced two brand new songs that we just started rehearsing.  These in my opinion are two of Toby’s best songs he has ever written, especially “Veronica.”  

Andrew:  When you are away is it easier play new material and see how the crowd reacts?

Chavo:  Actually, it’s easier to play the old stuff with a fresh environment and new vibes.. we get boost of energy. The old stuff becomes new as we are introducing the songs to new people. 

Andrew: What’s next?

Chavo:  Radio interviews and live radio in-house performances. We even have a record store drop by thanks to the label City Canyon Records.  They got the CD into record stores, which was released for stores on the 17^th and can be purchased online through City Canyon Records.  We also hope to see our home crowd out in force on the 29^th and 30^th of September at the Reef Bar.